December 09, 2008

Illinois gov sought to trade stadium aid for editorial spin

In case you somehow haven't heard, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been arrested and charged with a bunch of mean, nasty, ugly things, including trying to sell Barack Obama's former U.S. Senate seat in exchange for high-paid jobs for himself and his wife. It's another item of Blagojevich's rap sheet that makes this newsworthy here, though: The governor is reported to have threatened to withhold his support for the Tribune Corp.'s proposal to sell Wrigley Field to the state unless the Chicago Tribune fired members of its editorial board that had been critical of the governor; according to one report, Blagojevich's actual words to his chief of staff were: "our recommendation is fire all those [expletive] people, get 'em the [expletive] out of there and get us some editorial support."

The Wrigley sale, you'll recall, would have cost local governments as much as $50 million in lost property taxes, plus perhaps $80 million in subsidies for tax-exempt bonds, most of which would have come out of the federal treasury. A November phone call intercepted by investigators now reveals that chief of staff John Harris told the governor the Cubs would be looking to save $100 million in capital gains tax as well, bringing the total public cost to in excess of $200 million.

Though you have to hand it to Blagojevich in one way: At least, unlike most governors, he asked for something in exchange for a stadium deal.